It’s been a busy week for MEPs in Strasbourg. As always, many have also found time to tweet about some of the key topics discussed in plenary. We have analysed more than 10,000 tweets and, contrary to our initial expectations, the #PanamaPapers and the effectiveness of existing EU measures against tax-dodging did not emerge as the number one topic.

Gianmaria Sisti

Consultant

The main focus of this week’s MEP tweets was actually the new EU directive on Passenger Name Records (PNR) approved on Thursday and whether this would be useful tool in the fight against terrorism or not.

In addition to these two topics, MEPs’ Twitter conversations also focused on the new EU data protection rules, the Brexit saga (with many MEPs still very active) and the renewed authorisation of herbicide glyphosate.

Many MEPs raised their voice to support the PNR directive which will force airlines to hand EU countries’ passenger data for all flights from a third country to the EU and vice versa. Opponents expressed their concerns over privacy and proportionality issues. The most active MEPs on #PNR were:

Regarding the online debate around the Mossack Fonseca or Panama Papers scandal, MEPs asked the European Commission and member states to step up their efforts to fight tax evasion and money laundering. The top three most active MEPs talking about the Panama Papers were: